An Odd Little Script

[Greg Lindstrom]

Hello-

I have a task which -- dare I say -- would be easy in <asbestos_undies> 
Perl </asbestos_undies> but would rather do in Python (our primary 
language at Novasys).  I have a file with varying length records.  All 
but the first record, that is; it's always 107 bytes long.  What I would 
like to do is strip out all linefeeds from the file, read the character 
in position 107 (the end of segment delimiter) and then replace all of 
the end of segment characters with linefeeds, making a file where each 
segment is on its own line.  Currently, some vendors supply files with 
linefeeds, others don't, and some split the file every 80 bytes.  In 
Perl I would operate on the file in place and be on my way.  The files 
can be quite large, so I'd rather not be making extra copies unless it's 
absolutely essential/required.

I turn to the collective wisdom/trickery of the list to point me in the 
right direction.  How can I perform the above task while keeping my sanity?

Thanks!
--greg
-- 
Greg Lindstrom               501 975.4859
Computer Programmer          greg.lindstrom at novasyshealth.com
NovaSys Health
Little Rock, Arkansas

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